Cupola-charging car



June 1927 J. K. CLUTTS CUPOLA CHARGING CAR Filed Sept. 2l,- 1925 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Home! Ju 1927- J. K. cLuTTs CUPOLA CHARGING CAR FiledSept. 21. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 75.92 v Ciutts nvamifo'r/ Patented June28, 1927.

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F F lCE JOSHUA K. OLUTTS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CUPOLA-CHARGING CAR.

Application filed September 21, 1925. Serial No. 57,586.

contents thereof within the -upolr..

Another object is to provide means under a control remote from the saidreceotztcle for controlling the direction of its discharge within thecupola, so as to effect a proper il.'-,il'll)1lll)11 of the chargewithin the latter.

Still another object to mount. i-iaid receptncle and its variouscontrols upon it suitable wci liing frame. and to mount the latter upona suitable carrying frame, Uri-{terribly wheeled.

A. further object is to provide such a coir tizol mechanism for thedischarge from the said receptacle as will permit a ready regulation ofthe rate of discharge therefrom.

3 These and various other objects the invention uttains by the con:rucaion hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanyin;drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is 11, plan ier; of a charging car .einbodyine' the inventivefeatures.

mg. :2 is a view of the same in side elevation a fragmei itary portionor a cupola be ng sect ally shown, and the charge receptacle carried bythe car being; shown introduced :25 into said rupola.

l igure 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View of the invention,the plane of section being indicated at 3 3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional View of the changing receptacle and itsmounting, taken upon the line 44 of Fig. 3.

In these views, the reference character 1 rates a substantiallyrectangular holler; frame suitably mounted upon front and rear pairs ofwheels 2. lVithin its central o -iening, said frame carries a weighingscale, which may be of ordinary construction. As shown. this scalecomprisesa pair of levers 3. extended lengthwise of the frame 1 andpivot-ed upon the latter at remote points 4, said levers beingpivoiallyconnected as indicated at Suitably located pivot been ings uponsaid levers cerrya weighing frame comprising a pair of elongated spacedsills end suitable cross members 7 connecting said The forward portionsof the sills 6 project some distance beyond the frame 1 and form amounting for a rotatable cylindrical receptacle 8 for the cupola charge.This mounting is established preferably by exteriorly providing uponsaid receptacle two vertically spaced supporting rings 9, which, asshown, are of angle bar cross section and which rest upon sets ofrollers 10 radially journaled in upper and lower channelshaped rings 11,the former seating directly upon the sills 6 and the latter beingcarried by a subl'rame 12 depending from said sills.

The bottom of the receptacle 8 is formed by a pair of downwardly openingdoors 13, copivotally mounted upon a rod 13 diametrically carried by thelower end of the receptacle. Preferably the bottom edge of thereceptucle inclines slightly upwardly at each side of said rod, so thatthe closures 13, when seating against said edge, are correspondingilyinclined.

The mechanism for controlling the closures 13 comprises two duplicatepairs of links 1 1, the remote ends of said links being pivoted to saidclosures equidistantly from the rod 13 and the links of each pairconverging downwardly from the doors to pivotully engage a rod 15,adapted to actuate said links to close or open the closures 13,according as said rod is raised or lowered. Midway of its length, saidrod is engaged by a. chain 16 which extends vertically upward throughthe receptacle 8 in proximity to a partition 17 diametrically securedWithin the receptacle and extending at its lower edge in close proximityto said rod. Above said receptacle, the chain 16 is carried over a guidepulley 18 attached to a frame 19 mounted upon the scale sills 6 andforming an arch above said receptacle. From said pulley, the chainextends rearwarclyto a drum 20 upon which its rear end portion wound andby rotation of which the closures 13 may be raised or lowered. Said drumis journaled in pair of suitable uprights 21 mounted .upon the scaleframe, and e semi-circular brake band 22 provided with esuitablc controllever 23 is engageable with said drum under regulable pressure to holdthe doors either fully closed or partially opened,

it) v i and topermit any desired reterdation of the opening movement ofthe doors. A provision foretlfecting such rotat on of the drum 20 aswill close the doors will presently be .i'ieicribe till ill

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For actuating the receptacle 8 rotatively, a chain 24 makes a number ofturns about the upper portion of said receptacle and is extendedrearwardly from opposite sides of the receptacle, the end portions orsaid chain being reversely wound upon a drum 25 journaled in pair ofuprights 26 spaced upon the rear portion or the scale frame. Accordinglyas said drum is driven in one direction or the other, he receptacle 8 isrotated in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

For driving'the described car and also (if desired) for actuating thedrums 20 and 25, there is carried by the rear portion of the frame 1,within the central opening thereof, an electric motor 27 which may begeared as indicated at 28 to the rear axle of the car, and which mayhave driving connections 29 and 30 to the drums 20 and respectively.

31 designates a step mounted upon the rear end of the frame 1 for use orthe operator and 32 is a weight attached to the rear end oi the scaleframe to coimterbalance the receptacle 8 and its contents. A gauge 33ugon which the scale indications may be read surmounts a post 34 risingfrom the frame 1, and an actuating connection from one of the scalelevers 3 to the needle of said gauge is indicated at The openingmovement of the closures 13 is limited by suitable yieldable stopmembers secured to the under faces of said closures near their outeredges, said step members abutting when the doors are fully open andmaintaining a suflicient angularity in the relation of the links 14 toinsure their proper response to an upward pull exerted upon the chain16.

In the operation of the described invention, a charge or materials to bedelivered to the cupola is first introduced by any suitable means intothe receptacle 8. Ordinarily said materials will be mainly metallic, butthe delivery of fuel. to the cuopla can also be efficiently accomplishedthrough use of said receptacle. hen the receptacle has been sufiicientlyloaded, the weight of its contents may be immediately obtained byconsulting the gauge 83. The charging car is now driven from the pointof loading to the cupola 87 (see Fig. 2) and after the charging opening38 of the cupola has been uncovered, the charging car is driven forward,in registration with said opening so as to carry the receptacle 8through said opening and into the cupola. The operator now establishes adrive connection to the drum 25 (if desired) whereby said drum actsthrough the chain 24 to rotatively shift the receptacle 8 so far as maybe necessary to establish the desired direction for delivery of thecharge from said receptacle. It is to be understood that, unless theclosures 13 are allowed to drop quite abruptly, said closures will exerta tendency to deflect the discharging materials toward the cupola wallin a direction substantially transverse to the pivotal axis of saidclosures, so that the operator by selecting a desired diametricalrelation of said axis to the cupola wall can predetermine the subsequentdirection of discharge. Thus for example, it at the moment of discharge,the pivot rod 13 of the receptacle is disposed lengthwise of the car,the direction of the discharge when the doors 13 are opened graduallywill be primarily toward the sides of the cupola, whereas, it thepivotal axis of the closures is transverse to the cupola sides atthemoment of discharge, the materials will be deposited primarily adjacentto the front and rear walls of the cupola. If it is desired todistribute the charge in a substantially uniiorm manner within thecupola, the doors may be allowed to fall abruptly to their openpositions, so that the charge may drop sub. ;antially vertically,without being subjected to deflection by the doors. The open ing travelof the closures is accomplished by the weight of the load resting uponsaid closures, and such travel occurs as soon as the operator relievespressure of the brake 22 upon the drum 20. According as this pressure isrelieved, to a greater or less degree, the opening travel or theclosures 13 will be fast or slow. As soon as the receptacle has beenemptied, the operator applies power to the drum 20 so as to wind thechain 16 upon said drum and thus move the closures 13 to their closedpositions. Finally the charging car is driven back sufficiently towithdraw the receptacle 8 from the cupola and the charging opening 38 ofthe latter is again uncovered.

As compared to the present practice of manually throwing or shovelingthe charge into a cupola, use of the described car accomplishes a greatadvance in efticiency. For every cupola, such a car eliminates necessityfor several workmen (known chargers), and permits the one man in chargeof said car to accomplish the charging operation in much shorter lengthof time, with much less discomfort due to heat, and without the severephysical exertion required by manual charging. Furthermore use of saidcar permits distribution of the charge within the cupola to be much moreaccurately controlled than is possible under conditions of manualcharging, since radiation of heat through the charging opening will notpermit workmen to approach said opening closely enough to permit oftheir throwing the charging material manually to any desired interiorpoint. Heat radiation through the charging opening will not subject theoperator of the described car to appreciable discomfort, first sincesuch radiation is largely blocked by the presence of the chargingreceptacle in the cupola, second, because the operator is stationed uponthe rear end llS of the car and is therefore some distance from thecharging opening, and third, because the period of charging iscomparatively short.

Owing to the mounting of the charging receptacle upon a Weighing scalecarried by the described car, the accurate total weight of the charge isimmediately obtainable as soon as said charge has been loaded into thereceptacle. The advantage of this over the practice now commonlyfollowed of transporting the charge to the cupola in wheel barrows andseparately weighing each wheel barrow load will be readily evident.

By providing a partition in the charging receptacle directly above thedoor axis, the charge is prevented from clogging the doors in theirpivotal movement.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. In combination, a receptacle having an outlet at its lower end, apair of downwardly opening pivotal closures controlling said outlet, anda pair of toggle links connecting said closures and establishing acommon con trol thereof, and positioned beneath said reccptacle.

2. In combination, a receptacle having an outlet at its lower end, apair of downwardly opening, substantially cop'ivota'l doors controllingsaid closures, a connection between said closures beneath the same foractuating the two closures in common, and control means for saidconnection upwardly extended through the receptacle.

3. In combination, a receptacle having an outlet at its lower end, apair of downwardly opening, substantially copivotal closures for saidoutlet, a pair of links beneath said do sures pivoted t-ern'iinally toeach other and having their other ends pivoted. respectively to saidclosures, and means connected to said links for effecting a commoncontrol of said closures.

In combination, a receptacle having an outlet at its lower end, a pairof downwardly opening, substantiallv copivotal closures for said outlet,a pair of links beneath said closures having remote ends pivoted to theclosures and having their other ends pivotally connected, and convergingdownwardly from the closures to their pivotal connected ends, and anactuating element for said links upwardly extended through saidreceptacle.

In combination, a receptacle having an outlet at its lower end, a pairof downwardly opening substantially copivotal closures for said outlet,a pair of links beneath said closures having remote ends pivoted to theclosures and having their other ends pivotally connected, means foractuating said links to control the closures, and means limiting theapproach of the closures to each other in their opened positions,whereby a minimum angularity of the links is predetermined.

6. In combination, a receptacle having an outlet at its lower 'end, adownwardly opening pivotal closure for said outlet, means forcontrolling said closure from a point remote from the receptacle,including a provision for regulating the velocity of the openingmovement of the closure.

7. In combination, a receptacle having an outlet at its lower end, aclosure for said out lct,'a flexible control element for said closureupwardly extended through said receptacle, a drum remote from thereceptacle upon which a portion of said control element is wound, and abrake acting upon said drum.

'8. In combination, a frame, a receptacle mounted upon one end of saidframe and having an outlet at its lower end, a closure for said outlet,a control element for said closure extended to the other end of saidframe, and means upon the last mentioned end of said frame coacting withsaid control element to regulate the velocity of opening of saidclosure.

9. In combination, a wheeled carrying frame, a weighing frame mountedupon the carrying frame and projecting at one end beyond the carryingframe, a receptacle tcrminally retained upon the projecting portion ofthe weighing frame for carrying and discharging material, meansco-acting with the weighing frame for weighing the contents of saidreceptacle, andmeans independent of said weighing means carried by theother end portion of the weighing frame for counter-balancing saidreceptacle and its contents.

10. In combination, a carrying frame, a weighing frame mounted upon thecarrying frame and projecting at one end beyond the carrying frame, areceptacle carried by said projecting portion of the weighing framehaving an outlet at its lower end, and means carried by said weighingframe for independently controlling the velocity and the direction ofthe discharge from said outlet.

ii. in combination, a receptacle, a pair of downwardly opening closuresforming the lottom of said receptacle, pivoted SLlbSttHb tizil'lvcoaxially and in a substai'itially diaiiictrical relation to saidreceptacle, and a partition wall arranged within said receptacle havingits lower edge extended into close proximity to the axis of saidclosures.

12. In combination, a pair of co-pivotal, normally substantiallyhorizontal members for supporting material, a connection between saidmembers beneath the same for actuating said members upwardly ordownwardly in common, and a control means for said members, upwardlyextended between said members.

13. In combination, a pair of normally substantially horizontalco-pivotal members for supporting and discharging material, a pair oflinks beneath said members having remote ends pivoted to said members,and

having their other ends pivotally connected, means for actuating saidlinks to control said members, and means limiting the approach of saidmembers to each other in their lowered positions whereby a minimumangularity of the links is predetermined.

14. In combination, a carrying frame, a weighing frame mounted upon thecarrying frame, and projecting at one end beyond the carrying frame, anormally horizontal pivotal support for materials carried by theprojecting end portion of the weighing frame downwardly movable todischarge said materials, and means carried by one of said frames forindependently controlling the velocity and the direction of thedischarge of materials.

15. In combination, a pair of normally horizontal copivotal members forsupporting and discharging material, a common means for pivotallyraising and lowering said members, and means carried by said member foryieldably limiting their approach to each other when lowered.

16. In combination, a pair of co-pivotal members normally positionedsubstantially horizontally'for supporting materials and pivotallymovable downwardly for discharging said materials, a pair of linksbeneath said members pivoted terminally to each other and having theirother ends pivoted respectively to said members, and means connectingthe said links for effecting a common control of said members.

17. In combination, a pair of substantially co-pivotal members normallypositioned sub stantially horizontally for supporting material, andpivotally movable downwardly for discharging such material, a pair oflinks beneath said members having their remote ends pivoted to saidmembers, and having their other ends pivotally connected and convergingdownwardly from the closures to their connected ends, and an actuatingelement for said links upwardly extended between said members.

18. In combination, a vehicular carrying frame, a weighing frame mountedupon the carrying frame, and projecting at one end beyond the carryingframe in its direction of vehicular travel. a support for materials uponsaid projecting end portion of the weighing frame, means upon the bodyportion of one of said frames controlling the discharge of materialsfrom said support, and means carried by the weighing frame at its endremote from the material support, for counterbalancing said support andits contents.

19. In combination, a frame, means for portably supporting said frame,said frame having an end portion forming a substantially rigid part ofsaid frame projecting beyond said supporting means, a normallysubstantially horizontal member pivoted upon the projecting end portionof said frame for carrying material, and means upon the main bodyportion of said frame for pivotally lowering said member to dischargeits load therefrom, and guide means for the last-named means upon saidprojecting end portion.

iii). In combination, a frame, means for portably supporting said frame,said frame having an end portion projecting beyond said supportingmeans, a pair of normally substantially horizontal members mounteu uponthe projecting end portion of said frame, and jointly forming a supportfor material, movable to discharge said material, and means carried uponthe body portion of said frame for actuating said members in common todischarge their load.

ii. In combination, a frame, means for portably supporting said frame,said frame having an end portion projecting beyond said supportingmeans, a member mounted upon the projecting end portion of said frame,rotatable about a substantially vertical axis, a normally substantiallyhorizonial support for material, pivoted upon said rotatable member, anddownwardly pivotally movableto discharge its load,means carried by thebody portion of said frame for rotatably actuating said rotatablemember, and means carried by the body portion of said frame forcontrolling the discharge of material from said support.

22. In combination, a frame, means for port-ably supporting said frame,said frame having an end portion projecting beyond said supportingmeans, a receptacle rotatably mounted upon the projecting end portion ofsaid frame, and having a provision for the discharge of its contents,means carried by the main body portion of said frame controlling thedischarge of materials from said receptacle and a cable having a portionen'ibracing said receptacle and having end portions extending to themain body of said frame, and alternatively actuable to rotate thereceptacle in either direction.

23. In combination, a vehicular carrying frame, means carried by saidframe for effecting its vehicular travel, a weighing frame mounted uponthe carrying frame and projecting at one end beyond the carrying framein its direction of vehicular travel, a support for materials upon saidprojecting portion of the weighing frame, and means upon the bodyportion of one of said frames controlling the discharge of material fromsaid support.

24. In combination, a carrying frame, a weighing frame, mounted upon thecarrying frame, and having an end portion projecting beyond saidcarrying frame, a pair of normally substantially horizontal memberspivoted upon the projecting portion of the weighing frame, and forming asupport for materials, and pivotally downwardly movable to discharge andmeans upon the body portion of one of said frames controlling thedischarge of materials from said support.

In eombiimtion a carrying frame, a wei hing frame, mounted upon the earnframe, and having an end portion pro ecting beyond the carrying frame anormally substantially horizontal support for materials pivotallymounted upon said projec ing portion of the Weighing frame for carryingmaterials and downwardly pivotally movable to discharge its load saidsupport being mounted for rotation about a substantial: vertical axis,means upon the body port on of one of said frames for controllingrais'ng and lowering of said support, and i-pon the body portion of oneof said 'trarnes tor rotatively actuating said support to control thedirection of discharge of its load.

ln testimony whereof I sign this specification.

JOSHUA K. CLUTTS.

